List Challenges has 100 Best Children’s Novels, and I thought that I’d totally rock this one, but I didn’t even get a passing grade. Please tell me which numbers I simply must read. My favorites, except for the Harry Potters and Laura Ingalls books, which I don’t think should be listed separately, but okay: are numbers 2,5, 7, 16, 74, & 93. I really would like your recommendations, because I only scored 48, which makes me feel like I need to read some of these immediately in order to redeem myself. Also, they’re definitely missing some more recent classics. Which made me go hunting to find 100 Great Children Books from the New York Public Library.

Here is a cool Body Image Workshop from Pigtail Pals, all about talking to your kids about being healthy, etc. Incidentally, that Pigtail Pals lady is excellent at working the FB page–she’s always putting interesting stuff into my feed. Actually, I think that’s where I got the Psychology Today link. Anyway, if you’re interested in raising girls and boys in a more gender neutral fashion/mindful parenting/feminist sort of stuff, you might want to like Pigtail Pals.

Why Study History?put together by a teacher. It’s basically a trailer for history with clips from a variety of sources. I’m a total history geek and so I loved it. History is exciting, you guys. And if it’s easier for kids to understand that it’s exciting by breaking it up into teeny bits and setting it to Coldplay, well, I heartily endorse it!

I can’t remember who shared this tip on Facebook, but it’s a quite a “duh, why didn’t I think of that?” tip. Write your child’s name and emergency contact information/important medical information on you child’s car seat, just in case there’s a medical emergency and grown-ups aren’t able to give rescue workers the information.

It’s been a long time since I read this article from the NY Times Magazine article called Can Emotional Intelligence Be Taught, so I can’t remember the specifics, but I remember thinking that it was especially interesting because at the time J would get so overwrought about math that she could barely function. But I also copied this quotation, which I thought was pretty hilarious: “Without such evidence, social-emotional learning could go the way of the self-esteem movement, an ill-fated program from the 1980s in which schoolchildren repeated mantras like ‘I am special’ and ‘I am beautiful.’ At the time, it, too, was considered the height of progressive education. The program was largely abandoned after it ended up being connected to rising rates of narcissism.” –Bwah, hah, hah! Sounds like it was pretty successful!

On Being Mom by Anna Quindlen This is something I always give to moms having their first baby. I couldn’t find this on her site or among the Newsweek columns, so this is just a random blog that would generally like you to be all fulfilled and evolved. I mildly resent the blogger for throwing in a last line after the essay, but this blog kicks the butt of other blogs that had distracting flashing advertisements.

The Best Day by Taylor Swift You’re not 11–I know! But try! And for some reason her official channel isn’t showing it, so this has lyrics over the (genuine) cute home movies, alas.

This article from the UK’s Daily Mail about children and pornography completely freaked me out. If you have children aged 11 to 14 and you plan to read this, get yourself a paper bag first in case you hyperventilate during your panic attack.

My sister-in-law reports that she loves the Super Speller App, especially when she’s driving the kids around. She adds the weeks spelling words at the beginning of the week, and then my niece studies by playing the app while they’re in the car.

Another friend was recommending language apps–she likes MindSnacks and Duolingo. Actually, Duolingo sounds so cool that I kind of want to start using it myself. Except that my phone has basically no memory. Maybe I should ask for some for my birthday?

When I was looking into these apps, I noticed that some had won or been nominated for the Best App Ever Awards,so of course I had to look into that, and look! They have a whole section on educational apps, with all sorts of tempting sub-categories. Although, jeepers, do you parents of infants really have the babies play apps? Do I sound like I’m 95 years old if this sounds crazy-pants to me?

Search the Blog

About

I’m Katie, and this is my personal blog about life with my two daughters, 15-year-old M and 13-year-old J; my husband, Cute W; and our cat, Isis, in Schenectady, NY. I’m also editor at KidsOutAndAbout.com, and I do freelance writing. For more information, contact me at capitaldistrictfunblog [at] gmail [dot] com.